From afar, Sam has remained an integral and irreplaceable member of the team who deserves more recognition than we ever could give him. While Sam has kept the students afloat, Kelly has almost singlehandedly kept a 150-year-old building standing – no easy task! Joe and James have always been the friendly faces keeping ents alive and keeping committee smiling. Dave has kept the Union in the black, while Catherine has done, well, everything – to say thank you would be embarrassingly inadequate. When Barnaby isn’t stealing my coffee table, he’s making the summer fun and the students happy. Bill - the lynchpin of the Union who holds the students, staff, and trustees together – deserves special thanks for the tireless unsung work he does. At times he is a task-master and at times a father figure. I will miss our long chats, punting, and his sage-like guidance. True friends don’t show up only in good times: they stay around when the going gets tough. There’s no space to thank all my true friends. I have Julia to thank for conscience, the Matts for strength. Basit’s ability to keep it real is legendary, and the Dans, Davids, Peter, Toni, and Josh have been mainstays of college life. Calum taught me many lessons about the Union. Soph has kept me going through the best and the worst. Special thanks to the lawyers, and especially to Arjun, Bassant and Nils. Back home Ariel, Blake, Dan, Dashiel, Erik, Jackie, Jeremy, Jesse, Joel, Julia, Kristen, Lily, Maddie, Nat, Peter, Priya, Rohan, Sadev, Tammer, and Yehuda have been my anchors across the ocean. The fact that you will never read this and might not ever have heard of the Union Society has helped me keep everything in perspective. I don’t know where I’ll be in 20 or 30 years when I find a copy of this termcard in some dusty old box, but I know I will have made it there because of all these people who have become my friends. May the road always rise to meet you, and may the wind always be at your back - unless you’re rowing!
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The last six months have convinced me that the Union staff have the hardest jobs in the world, and nothing I write can show my appreciation for their patience in putting up with the constant turnover, the erratic hours, and the students who far too often take them for granted. Victoria has been watching my back and making the Union run smoothly since I arrived, while Veronika has, in a few months since joining us, accomplished the impossible by revitalising the coffee shop without ever losing her smile.